Vehicle door lock



Jan. 25, 1955 E. D. DALI.

VEHICLE DOOR LOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 28, 1952 Jan. 25, 1955 E. D. DALL VEHICLE DOOR LOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 2S, 1952 :MII

United States Patent O VEHICLE DOOR LOCK Edward D. Dall, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Houdaille- Hershey Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application February 28, 1952, Serial No. 273,889

8 Claims. (Cl. 70-135) This invention relates to door locks of the type particularly adapted to lock the doors of vehicles such as passenger automobiles, trucks, trailers, or the like.

A principal object of my invention is to provide a simplified form of door lock of the rotary latch bolt type, arranged with a View toward utmost simplicity in construction and operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved form of push-button operated door lock of the rotary latch bolt type, particularly adapted for vehicles and lockable from the inside or outside of the door and arranged in a simplilied manner so as to unl'tck the door Whenever the door is opened from the msi e.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved form of vehicle door lock particularly adapted for use on house trailers and including a rotary latch bolt, a latch dog for dogging the latch bolt in latched position, push buttons operated from the inside and outside of the car for releasing said dog, and a rectilinearly movable release member operated by the outside operated push button to release the latch dog, and so arranged as to be movable to a position to lock the door from the inside or outside of the car and to move to an unlocked position whenever the latch dog is released from the inside.

A further object of my invention is to provide a simpliiied and improved form of rotary latch bolt andcasing construction arranged to take up a minimum amount of space and to form a simple and improved support and guide for the operating parts of the latch.

These and other objects of my inventionv will appear from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a horizontal sectional View `taken through a vehicle door, showing a door lock constructed in accordance with my invention in a door locking position;

Figure 2 -is a View somewhat similar to Figure 1 but showing the door released from the inside of the vehicle and partially open;

Figure 3 is an enlarged plan View of the locking mechanism of my invention;

Figure 4 is a View in side elevation of the locking mechanism shown in Figure 3, looking from the inside of the door; and

.Figurek 5 is an end view of the locking mechanism of my invention lookingtoward the inside end thereof. `In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings I have shown generally a door including an outside panel 11 and an inside panel 12, cooperating with a vertical door post or. frame member 13. The frame member 13 has a keeper 14 recessed therein and extending outwardly therefrom for engagement by a cooperating rotary latch bolt on the door, as will hereinafter more clearly appear as this specification proceeds.

.the knob 37.

2,7 00,290 Patented Jan. 25, 1955 ICC is secured to the edge of the door on oppositely projecting end llanges 17, 17 extending vertically from opposite sides of the outer end of said lock casing. The lock casing 15 is herein shown as being of an elongated generally U-shaped form and comprises a bottom plate 21 terminating into an upright flange 22 forming the base of the U and extending along the inside of the panel 11. Two connected spaced top plates 23 and 24 are bent inwardly from the edge flange 22 and extend in parallel relation to the bottom plate 21 and are spaced from each other adjacent the center of the lock casing 15 to provide a space for moving the locking mechanism to an unlocked position whenever the door is opened from the inside, as will hereinafter more clearly appear as this specication proceeds.

The top plates 23 and 24 are herein shown as being connected together by the flange 16 extending vertically therefrom and forming a means for securing the lock plate to the inside of the rear panel of the door.

The latch bolt 20 is herein shown as being a rotary type of latch bolt with the recessed latching surface 19 slidably engageable with the keeper 14 and having a rearwardly extending arm 25 engageable with a latch dog 267 for dogging the latch bolt in its latched position. The latch bolt 20 is herein shown as being pivotally mounted between the plates 21 and 24 adjacent the outer or door edge portion thereof, and as extending outwardly therefrom beyond the flanges 17, 17 for engagement with the keeper 14. A pivot pin 27 extending through the plates 21 and 24 may be provided to pivot said latch bolt between said plates and allow said latch bolt to freely rotate with respect thereto, limited only by the edge flange 22.

The latch dog 26 is shown as being an elongated iiat dog slidably guided between the latch plates 21, 23 and 24 on a pin 29 extending through the latch plates 22 and 23 and through an elongated slot 30 extending longitudinally of said latch dog adjacent the rear or inner end thereof. The pin 29 is shown as extending above the top of the plate 23 and as having a release lever 31 pivotally mounted thereon. A head 32 of the pin 29 retains the release lever 31 in position on the top of the plate 23.

The release lever 31 is herein shown as being a threearmed lever. A release arm 33 extends from the pivotal axis of said release lever in position to engage a tab or lug 34 extending upwardly from the side of the latch dog 26 extending along the inside of the inside door panel 12 and disposed adjacent the rear end of said latch dog. The tab 34 is shown as being movable in a rectilinear notch 35 formed in the plate 23 and opening toward the inside panel 12 of the door.

The release lever 31 has a second arm 35, which is inside operated and is spaced upwardly from the plate 23 and extends therealong toward the inner panel 12. The arm 35 is shown as being engaged by a push button or depressible plunger 36 mounted in the inside door panel 12, for releasing the latch dog 26 from the latch bolt 20 from the inside of the door. The plunger 36 is herein shown as being slidably mounted in a door knob 37 secured to and extending from the rear panel 12. The outside of said plunger forms a push button depressible with respect to said knob to release the latch bolt 20 from the inside of the door. The plunger 36 is herein shown as having an intermediate ange 39 abutted by one end of a compression spring 40 within The opposite end of the compression spring 40 is shown as being seated against a snap washer 41 snapped within the knob 37, adjacent the inner end thereof in a well known manner.

The release lever 31 has a third arm 43 spaced above the plate 23 and extending therealong in a direction toward the edge of the door and positioned to be engaged by a release member or ear 44, herein shown as extending radially from an operatin'gtsbaft 45. The operating shaft 45 is slidably guided at its inner end in an aperture 46 formed in the flange 16 and extends therethrough and through the inside panel 12 of the door. A locking button 47 is shown as being secured to the inner end of said shaft as by a set screw 49. Said locking button affords a means for turning the operating shaft 45 from the inside of the door to depress the ear 44 out of position to engage the arm 43. This will accommodate the shaft 45 to be rectilinearly moved from the outside of the door without engaging the arm 43 and will thus lock the door from opening from the outside.

The operating shaft 45 is shown as being connected at its outer end with a key-operated member generally indicated by reference character 50 and contained in a push button 51. The key-operated member may be of any well known form and serves to turn the shaft 45 upon the insertion of a key therein and upon turning of the key, as is well known to those skilled in the art, so not shown or described herein. The key-operated member 50 is shown as being connected with the operating shaft 45 for depressing said shaft upon depression of the push button and for pivoting said shaft upon pivotal movement of said key-operated member'by a key, by means of an interengaging coupling member 3 having interengaging connection with said key-operated member and with the outer end of said operating shaft.

The push button 51 is herein shown as being anged at its inner end and slidably guided within a cylindrical chamber 54 of an outside door handle 55. A spiral spring 56 is shown as being seated within the chamber 54 on a snap washer 57. The spring 56 biases the push button 51, coupling 53 and operating shaft 45 in an extended position with respect to the handle 55.

Turning of the key-operated member Si) in a counterclockwise direction by means of a key (not shown) will pivot the ear 44 downwardly out of position to engage the arm 43 of the release lever 31 and lock the door from the outside in an obvious manner. Turning of said key-operated member in an opposite direction by a key will accommodate said ear and operating shaft to unlock the door from the outside by depression of the push Cbutton S1 within the handle 55 from the outside of the oor.

The handle 55 is shown as being secured to the outside panel 11 of the door by machine screws 57 and 58 extending through the rear and front panels of the door and having threaded engagement with the handle 55. As herein shown, the machine screw 57 extends through the inner panel 12 and through an apertured portion 59 of the flange 16 to aid in retaining the lock casing in position in the door and also extends through a spacer 60 between the panels 11 and 12. The machine screw 58 is shown as extending through the inner panel 12 and through a spacer 6l between the panels 11 and 12, and as being threaded within the outer end portion of door handle 55.

A means is provided to assure that the door will always be released from the outside upon opening of the door from the inside, to make it impossible for a person to lock oneself out. This means, as herein shown, includes a camming lug 63 extending upwardly from the opposite side of latch dog 26 from the lug 34 within the space between adjacent ends of the lock plates Z3 and 24. The lug 65 extends upwardly into position toengage the underside of the ear 44, and pivot said ear upwardly into position to engage the arm 43 upon movement of the latch dog 26 in a position to release the latch 2,0, by operation of the inside operated push button 36. The door will then be unlocked and may freely be opened from the outside when closed. The camming lug 63 is shown as being apertured to receive one end of a tension spring 65. The opposite end of the tension spring 65 is connected with an apertured portion 66 of the lock plate 24, to bias the latch dog 26 in position to engage the latch bolt 20 and lock the door.

It may be seen from the foregoing that a simplified form of rotary latch bolt type of lock has been provided which is particularly adapted for locking and releasing vehicle types of doors, and is so arranged that when the door is locked by a key or the inside locking button 47, the outside operated push button 51 may be freely depressed without releasing the dog 26 from the rotary latch bolt 20 and also so arranged that if the door is locked from either the inside or outside and opened from the inside, release movement of the dog 26 will immediately move the locking member to an unlocked position and prevent a person from being accidentally locked out upon opening the door from the inside and then closing it It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a door latch of the class described, a latch casing having a rotary latch bolt freely pivoted thereon for cooperation with a keeper, a latch dog slidably mounted in said casing for movement toward and from the pivotal axis of said latch bolt, spring means biasing said latch dog into dogging engagement with said latch bolt, a release lever pivotally mounted on said latch casing and having one arm engageable with said latch dog for releasing said latch dog from said latch bolt, an outside operating member for said release lever mounted for slidable movement with respect to said release lever along an axis extending transversely of the pivotal axis of said release lever and having an engaging member extending therefrom for engagement with said release lever to pivot said release lever in a direction to release said latch dog against its spring bias upon movement of Said operating member in one direction, means for pivoting saidoperating member in a direction to free said engaging member from said release lever and lock the latch against outside operation, and camming means on said latch dog engageable with said engaging member upon release movement of said latch dog from the inside for moving said engaging member into position to unlock the latch for outside operation whenever the door is opened from the inside.

2. In a door latch of the class described, a latch casing having a rotary latch bolt freely pivoted thereon for cooperation with a keeper, a latch dog slidably mounted in said casing, a spring biasing said latch dog into dogging engagement with said latch bolt, a release lever pivotally mounted on said latch casing in spaced relation with respect to said latch bolt for pivotal movement about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of said latch bolt, said release lever having three arms, one of which is engageable with said latch dog to move said latch dog against its spring bias and release the latch, a second of which is inside operated7 and a third of which is pushbutton operated from the outside of the door, pushbutton operated mechanism for operating said third arm including an operating shaft rectilinearly movable along an axis extending transversely of the pivotal axis of said release lever and having an ear extending therefrom into position to engage said third arrn and pivot said release lever to release said latch dog upon. depressible movement of said operating shaft from the outside of the door, means operatively connected with both ends of said operating sha for pivotingv said ear out of position to engage said third arm from the inside or outside of the door to lock the door from opening from outside ofthe door, and camming means on said latch dog engageable with said ear and pivoting said ear into position to engage said third arm upon release of said latch dog by operation of said inside operated arm.

3. A door latch comprising a latch casing having a latch bolt freely pivoted thereon for cooperation with a keeper, a latch dog slidably guided in said casing, a tension spring biasing said latch dog into dogging engagement with said latch bolt, a release lever pivotally mounted on the outside of said latch casing adjacent the opposite end thereof from said latch bolt, a lug extending from said latch dog upwardly along one side of said latch casing into position to be engaged by said release lever, an inside operated push button engageable with said release lever for operating said release lever from the inside, an outside operated push button for operating said release lever from the outside and having an operating shaft operated thereby and mounted for pivotal movement with respect thereto about the axis of said push button and extending inside of the door, an engaging ear extending from said shaft into position to engage said release lever and operate the same upon depressible movement of said outside operated push button, a member on the inside end of said shaft for turning said shaft from the inside of the door into position to move said ear out of the path of said release lever, another member pivotally mounted in said outside operated push button and connected with the other end of said shaft and operable to move said ear out of position to engage said release lever.

4. A door latch comprising a latch casing having a latch bolt freely pivoted thereon for cooperation with a keeper, a latch dog slidably guided in said casing, a tension spring biasing said latch dog into dogging engagement with said latch bolt, a release lever pivotally mounted on the outside of said latch casing adjacent the opposite end thereof from said latch bolt, a lug extending from said latch dog upwardly along one side of said latch casing in position to be engaged by said release lever, an inside operated push button engageable with said release lever for operating said release lever from the inside, an outside operated push button for operating said release lever from the outside and having an operating shaft operated thereby and mounted for pivotal movement with respect thereto about the axis of said push button, an engaging ear extending from said shaft into position to engage said release lever and operate the same upon depressible movement of said outside operated push button, a member on one end of said shaft for turning said shaft into position to move said ear out of position to engage said release lever, another member pivotally mounted in said outside operated push button and connected with the other end of said shaft to pivot said shaft and move said ear out of position to engage said releaseV lever, and a camming lug extending from said latch dog into position to engage and pivot said ear into position to engage said release lever, upon release movement of said latch dog when the door is locked from opening from the outside and is opened from the inside by operation of said inside operated push button.

5. A door latch comprising an elongated generally U-shaped latch casing adapted to be mounted on and extend along a door panel and having an end portion facing the edge of the door, a rotary latch bolt pivotally mounted within said casing and extending from said end portion for cooperation with a keeper, a latch dog slidably mounted within said casing, a spring biasing said latch dog into dogging engagement with said latch bolt, a release lever pivotally mounted on the top of said casing and having an arm engageable with said latch dog for releasing the same, an inside operated push button engageable with said release lever for operating the same from the inside of the doo-r, an outside operated push button, a pivotally movable operating shaft connected with said outside operated push button and slidably moved thereby, an ear extending radially from said shaft into position to engage said release lever and release the same upon depression of said outside operated push button, separate members connected with the inside and outside of said shaft for pivoting the same from the inside or outside of the door to move said ear out of the path of said release lever and lock the door against opening from the outside, and a camming lug on said latch dog and movable therewith ,to engage and position said ear to engage said release lever whenever the door is locked and opened from the inside.

6. In a door latch of the class described, an elongated generally U-shaped latch casing including a bottom plate and two spaced top plates extending in closely spaced parallel relation with respect to said bottom plate, a rotary latch bolt pivotally mounted between said plates and extending from an end thereof for engagement with a keeper, a latch dog slidablymounted between said plates for movement toward and from the pivotal axis of said latch bolt, a spring biasing said latch dog into dogging engagement with said latch bolt, a lug extending upwardly from said latch dog adjacent one side thereof and at the opposite end thereof from said latch bolt, said latch dog also having a camming lug extending in the space between said top plates and upwardly beyond the top thereof, a release lever pivotally mounted on the outside of the top plate remote from said latch bolt and having a release arm engageable with said first mentioned lug, a second inside operated arm extending at an angle to said release arm, and a third outside operated arm extending in an opposite direction from said second inside operated arm, means engageable with said second arm and operable from the inside of the door for pivoting said release lever in a direction to release the latch dog, means operable from the outside of the door and engageable with said third arm for pivoting said release lever in position to release said latch dog from the outside of the door including a push button having an operating shaft extending therefrom and slidably guided in said latch casing above said top plates and extending across the space therebetween, and having an engaging member extending radially therefrom, means operable from the inside or outside of the door for pivoting said operating shaft to pivot said engaging member downwardly out of position to engage said third arm and disconnect the outside operated push button, said camming lug underlying said engaging member and engaging and camming said engaging member into position to engage said third arm when the door is locked against outside operation and upon operation of said release lever from the inside of the door to release said latch dog from said latch bolt.

7. In a door latch of the class described, an elongated generally U-shaped latch casing including a bottom plate and two spaced connected top plates extending in closely spaced parallel relation with respect to said bottom plate, a rotary latch bolt pivotally mounted between said plates and extending beyond one end thereof for cooperation with a keeper, a latch dog slidably guided between said plates for dogging engagement with said latch bolt, a spring biasing said latch dog into dogging engagement with said latch bolt, a pin extending between said plates and forming a slidable guide for said latch dog, a release lever pivotally mounted on said pin on the outside of the upper of said plates, a release lug extending upwardly from said latch dog and slidably movable along the outside of one of said upper latch plates, a first arm extending from said release lever into position to engage said lug, a second arm extending from said lever at an angle with respect to said first arm, a push button slidably mounted for engagement with said second arm and depressible to pivot said release lever and release the latch from the inside of the door, a third arm extending in an opposite direction from said second arm and operable from outside the door to release the latch, a push button on the outside of the door, an operating shaft operated thereby and extending from the outside to the inside of the door, an ear extending radially from said shaft into position to engage said third arm and release said release lever from the outside of the door to release said latch dog upon depression of said outside operated push button, means for pivoting said operating shaft from the inside and outside of the door to move said ear out of position to engage said third arm, and a camming lug extending upwardly from said latch dog in the space between said upper plates into position to engage said ear and pivot said ear upwardly into position to engage said third arm when the door is locked against outside operation and released from the inside.

8. In a door latch of the class described, an elongated generally U-shaped latch casing having a horizontal bottom plate, an open end portion facing the edge of the door, two aligned longitudinally spaced top plates closely spaced with respect to said bottom plate and extending in parallel relation with respect thereto, and a ange connecting said spaced plates together and extending upwardly therefrom and affording a means to secure said latch casing to an inside panel of a door, an operating shaft slidably and pivotally guided in said flange, a push button connected with said shaft for rectilinearly moving said shaft in position to release the latch from the outside of the door, end flanges extending upwardly and downwa-rdly from said top and bottom plates for securing said latch plate to the edge of the door, a latch bolt pivotally mounted between said plates and extending outwardly therefrom beyond said end flanges, said latch bolt having a locking arm extending inwardly along said latch plates, a latch dog slidably guided between said plates, a spring biasing said latch dog into dogging engagement with said locking arm, a release lever pivotally mounted on the top of one of said spaced plates, a lug extending upwardly from said latch dog into positionvto be engaged by said release lever, an inside operated push button engageable with said release lever for releasing said dog, an ea-r extending from said operating shaft and positionable by said shaft to engage said release lever and pivot said release lever in a direction to release said latch, means operable from the inside or outside of the door to pivot said shaft and move said ear out of position to engage said release lever, and said latch dog having a camming lug extending upwardly therefrom at the opposite side thereof from said iirst mentioned lug and movable in the space between said top plates into engagement with said ear and camming said ear into position to engage said releasev lever upon release movement of said` latch dog, whenever said ear is pvoted into a locked position out of position to engage said release lever from either the inside or outsidel of. the door and upon operation of said insie operated push. button to open the door from the 5 msi e.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Lakin Feb. 11, Rolph et a1. Jan. 20, Berghoi Apr. 18,

Springer Apr. 26, 

